Trump's Policies Constitute a Risk to Civilization.
His internal and external strategies – including the effort to overturn the election previously to current incursions and warnings – erode both national and global legal frameworks. But that’s not all.
They endanger the very concept of what we mean by.
A moral purpose of any advanced culture is to prevent the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Without this, we risk being trapped in a state of nature where might makes right could survive.
This ideal is central of the Declaration and Constitution. This is also the core of the modern framework of international relations championed by the US, emphasizing international cooperation, democratic governance, human rights, and the rule of law.
However, it is a vulnerable principle, easily violated by those who seek to abuse their power. Upholding it requires that the those in charge have the moral fortitude to avoid seeking temporary advantages, and that the public demand responsibility if they don't.
Absolute power does not equal right. It results in instability, disruption, and war.
Every time entities that are richer and more powerful target and use those that are not, the framework of our shared norms unravels. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can fall into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.
Today, we live in a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are increasingly centralized than ever before. This encourages the elite to take advantage of the disadvantaged because they act with a sense of untouchable.
The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is difficult to fathom. The reach of global industrial giants spans a vast portion of the world. AI is could centralize resources and influence to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the leading countries is without parallel in recorded history.
Supported by complicit legislators and a sympathetic high court, the presidency has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable entity of the state in the modern era.
Put it all together and you see the threat.
A clear connection ties past transgressions to present-day provocations. These were premised on the arrogance of absolute power.
You see much the same in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.
However, raw power does not establish right. It fosters uncertainty, upheaval, and armed conflict.
History shows that frameworks designed to constrain the influential also protect them. Absent these limits, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches eventually bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And pave the way for world war.
This kind of contempt for legal order will cast a long shadow over the nation and the world – and indeed civilization – for the foreseeable future.
